excellent recording of a great show!

This sound of this show is amazingly clear. I keep coming back to this show and listening to it. The band was definitely out in full force that night.

(From my blog: ShakeitDown.Wordpress.com Which has pictures as well...)
To continue my mini spread out Railroad Earth tour in NJ, PA, NY, and CT, the 3rd stop for me, (4th stop for the band) is a venue that Railroad Earth has played for the past few years, bringing all the hobos to come ride the rail. Even with a new bassist the band has continued to reach new elevations.
In the midst of this enchanting experience the band was about to dwell upon this beautiful venue and its inhabitants, musical magic was created. To start, the boys pulled out a memorable “Where Songs Begin”.
With the offset level of a slow hypnotic anthem to the mood and atmosphere the band was making, we got a balance in the form of “Lordy Lordy” and “Drag Him Down” two songs that bring you to a full blown groove. “Drag Him Down” picked up the pace from a average bluegrass pace, to a full force jig with the conducting of Tim Carbones fiddle.
Next up, a round of a psychedelic endeavor by the name of “The Forecast”. A song that can be as trippy as a “Dark Star” and then at the slow increase of intensity, can build into a amazing musical climax. It leaves you in a trance and you’re then under this trippy song of power and indescribable peaks. At this point, the crowd was slowly realizing what the band was slowly morphing the energy of Penn’s Peak into.
With the show off to a great start, the band delivers with a piece that John Skehan wrote to accompany the classic Railroad Earth song ”Like A Buddha” called “The Green Roofs Of Eireann” which is full of celtic bursts.. Carey Harmon is pounding away with heavy support for the band to be as creative as they want as they jam away for the crowd. Andy Goessling’s flute line has the crowd dumb-struck with amazement of his multi-instrumental talents. Andrew then takes a bass solo that impressed everyone with his comfort as well as talent. This ends the set with everyone in utter shock of the hurricane that rocked Penn’s Peak, and just wanting more.
The second set opened up with “Bird In A House”; a song that had been requested by a couple of people in the crowd. Everyone was letting Andrews bass line set their dancing pace as always, and moving to the fiddle playing by Tim Carbone. The vocal harmony strength of the band is also displayed towards the end. It was about time Penn’s Peak got some more feel good fast jigs, so we get a powerful and fast pace “Bread and Water” which makes room for John Skehan to work his magic with his tight mandolin playing.
A celtic frenzy breaks out “Carrying Coal To Newcastle” is another Skehan masterpiece that shows his celtic genius creativity. This celtic “wonderland” transforms into a heavy Mighty River bringing the crowd to a roar and brings the dance level to a full blare rage.
Another highlight was Skehans “1759″. This song contains John playing the Bouzouki, and the intro was the usual power trip by Skehans Bouzouki playing, except this time, Andrew Altman joined in the fun, just like at Mexicali, imitating Skehans playing on a bass. After this intro jam was the usual start of the full band part getting everyone worked up with how fast and how powerful this bands sound can be
One of my personal highlights was a 20 minute “Head” which bedazzled the venue with a earthquake of jamming to its full potential. This song never ceases to amaze me, and this was a pretty long version.
“Hard Livin” is a perfect song from Amen Corner, and is a great song to hear even though they do it quite frequently, the jam at the end makes this song all worth while because Andy Goessling makes a bold statement with his saxophones, and Tim Carbone proves why he can also be referred to as “Timmy Hendrix” when playing the electric guitar…
The final song of the set was the self titled song “Railroad Earth”. It’s such a beautiful song that you can’t help but sing along to the lyrics especially “Oh Mama Aint’ It Good To Be Alive?” (because really, where else would you want to be then a Railroad Earth show?).
After the encore banter, the boys came back out and did a high energy version of “Peace On Earth”, which was a fun encore to say the least. This concludes a top level setting Railroad Earth show over the recent run.

Wow what a great show. My first time at Penns Peak, deffinately not my last. The sound of the band was as always fantastic. They really were cooking up there as you can tell by Jamie's fine work. I was really surprised by the sound of the room, nice:) Thanks for another great one Jamie.

This was my first RRE show. Penn's Peak is a great venue. What a great performance. There was so much energy. I was hoping to hear 'Long Way To Go', but Reuben's Train was a real treat. I'm looking forward to seeing them again soon, without a doubt!

I really enjoy last night's show. Thanks so much for getting this show out so quickly!